Snapshots

Photographs from or about Larry I. Palmer’s Scholarship Boy

  • Arglister Palmer at sixty-four
    St. Louis, Missouri, ca. 1963
    Professional portrait of my father. This photograph was taken during my freshman year at Harvard (from Scholarship Boy, “Dad’s Cane,” 238).
  • Arglister Palmer at sixty-seven
    St. Louis, Missouri, ca. 1966
    This is the last time I saw my father before his death in September 1967. This photograph was taken hours before I boarded a plane to Washington, DC and married my wife, Marian (from Scholarship Boy, “Dad’s Cane,” 238).
  • Mattie Palmer at sixty-four
    St. Louis, Missouri, ca. 1967
    A photograph of my mother taken some time after my father died. This is one of the many snapshots in a family album given to me by my sister Louise in the 1970s (from Scholarship Boy, “Promise and Potential,” 214).
  • Larry I. Palmer
    St. Louis, Missouri, ca. 1948
    I was four years old when this portrait was taken. For some reason, both my younger brother, Barry, and I had a professional photographer take our pictures. The suit that I am wearing was made by my brother, Al, who was taking lessons to become a tailor.
  • Louise and Larry Palmer
    St. Louis, Missouri, ca. 1948
    A photograph of me leaning into my seven-year-old sister’s shoulder during a family picnic in Forest Park. My brother, Willie, took this picture (from Scholarship Boy, “Troublemaker,” 58).
  • Larry, Barry, and Arglister Palmer
    St. Louis, Missouri, ca. 1950
    My brother and I mixing cement. We are helping our father build a barbecue pit with a brick chimney. My brother, Willie, captured this moment (from Scholarship Boy, “Dad’s Cane,” 224).
  • Larry and Barry Palmer
    St. Louis, Missouri, ca. 1951
    Our older brother, Willie, took this snapshot of Barry and I standing beside the family Christmas tree.
  • Larry I. Palmer
    St. Louis Missouri, ca. 1951
    This is another holiday snapshot taken by Willie.
  • Urshel Palmer
    St. Louis, Missouri, ca. 1948
    This photograph of my brother, Urshel, was taken from a hand-stitched quilt with portraits of all ten Palmer children printed onto the fabric. The quilt was commissioned by my sister, Lela, in the 1990s (from Scholarship Boy, “Our Wayward Black Sheep,” 176).
  • Back row (left to right): Wille, Harold, Al, Mac, Barry, Urshel, and Larry. Front row (left to right): Grandma Lela, Mattie, Lena, Lela, and Louise.
    St. Louis, Missouri, ca. 1967
    A photograph of the Palmer family taken after my father’s funeral (from Scholarship Boy, “Family Picture,” 252).
  • Larry I. Palmer at eleven
    Bates Elementary School, St. Louis, Missouri, ca. 1955
    I attended a gifted and talented class at Bates before the class itself was moved to my neighborhood school, Washington Elementary, the following year. This photograph was taken by a classmate, Judith Anthony, with her Brownie Kodak camera.
  • Larry I. Palmer at thirteen
    St. Louis, Missouri, ca. 1957
    A professional portrait taken and used for my scholarship application to Exeter. This photograph is from the album Louise gave me in the 1970s.
  • Larry I. Palmer at fourteen
    Exeter, New Hampshire, ca. 1958
    This photograph was taken by my dormmate with his Polaroid during my first semester at Exeter.
  • Larry and his friend Brink
    Exeter, New Hampshire, ca. 1960
    A photograph from the 1960 yearbook (from Scholarship Boy, “Where Are You From,” 26).
  • Larry with wrestling opponent and referee
    Exeter, New Hampshire, ca. 1961
    A wrestling match with an opponent from a rival high school in Warwick, Rhode Island. This photograph was taken during my third year at Exeter and appeared in the 1961 yearbook (from Scholarship Boy, “Wrestling,” 36).
  • Larry and his wrestling coach, Ted Seabrooke
    Exeter, New Hampshire, ca. 1962
    Me listening to Coach Seabrooke’s commentary on the match before mine, trying to identify patterns in the opposing team’s style that might benefit my own match (from Scholarship Boy, “Wrestling,” 36).
  • Larry and Principal William G. Saltonstall (“Salty”)
    Exeter, New Hampshire, ca. 1962
    Salty awarding me the Williams Cup at Exeter Prize Day. The prize is awarded to a four-year senior who through “his personal qualities and work has brought distinction to Phillips Exeter Academy.” This photograph appeared in the supplement of the 1962 yearbook.
  • Back row: Brink, Larry, and Bancroft Hall’s graduating seniors
    Front row: the young woman in the checkered blouse with the white collar is Phyliss Seabrooke
    Exeter, New Hampshire, ca. 1962
    This photograph was taken after the Exeter graduation ceremony. The women in the front row were asked as dates to the previous night’s graduation dance (from Scholarship Boy, “To Kiss or Not to Kiss,” 128).
  • Larry I. Palmer
    Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, ca. 1975
    This photograph was featured in a news release announcing my faculty appointment at Cornell Law School as an associate professor of law at the age of thirty-one.